


The Man In The Mirror

by MorganaNK



Category: Inspector Lynley - All Media Types, Inspector Lynley Mysteries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 08:50:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13291374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorganaNK/pseuds/MorganaNK
Summary: A post-series fic.  Tommy doesn't know who he is anymore, luckily Barbara is there to remind him





	The Man In The Mirror

**Author's Note:**

> Property of Elizabeth George and the BBC... no copyright infringement intended

I scrubbed at my eyes with the heels of my hands. I was tired, so very tired, both physically and emotionally. As I filled the wash basin I stared at the face in the mirror, not recognising the man staring back at me.

Detective Inspector, Lord, Thomas, Tommy, Sir, Mr, brother, widower, son. With so many names and titles, was it any wonder that sometimes even I forgot who I was supposed to be?

Two arms slipped around me. Two hands, their touch as soft as butterfly wings, caressed my stomach and chest, and tender kisses traced their way up my spine.

“You look sad.” Barbara’s breath was warm against my skin, causing me to shiver.

“I’m thinking, that’s all.”

She turned me to face her, and reached up to gently push back a wayward lock of hair that had fallen over my eye.

“Want to talk about whatever it is?”

I stroked the side of her face, losing myself in her eyes. “It isn’t important.”

“You look worn out Tommy, and it worries me. I hate seeing you like this. I want to help.”

I lifted her onto the counter, leaving my hands resting on her hips. “You do help, you’re the only one who does.”

“Then talk to me. Tell me what is haunting you. Let me help carry the burden.”

I sighed deeply, “I don’t know who I am any more. I look in the mirror, and sometimes I don’t recognise the man reflected in the glass. I have to be so many things to so many people, wear so many different guises, I’m exhausted just trying to keep on top of things.”

“Then isn’t it about time you cast some of those guises aside? Be the man that you want to be and no one else?”

“I can’t.”

“You can Tommy. You know what you have to do, and you know that I will support you in it.”

“What you’re suggesting, it doesn’t just affect me. I can’t do that to you. I can’t ask you to give up something so important to you.”

She ran her fingers through my hair, tugging my head down so that our lips were merely millimetres apart. “Nothing is more important to me than you.”

“I am asking too much of you.”

“No, you’re not.”

“I feel as if I am.”

Her hands moved to the sides of my face as she made me look directly at her. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you Tommy, and I do mean nothing. We knew that this day would come, we’ve known from the moment we became a couple. I told you then, and I’m telling you again now, I am prepared to do whatever is needed for our relationship to survive.”

“You shouldn’t have to make sacrifices for me.”

“It’s not a sacrifice if you give it up willingly, and I do,” she wrapped her legs around my waist, trapping our lower bodies together and rubbing her crotch against mine, causing me to moan, “so both of us should resign and spend the rest of our days making love at each and every opportunity.”

“Sounds tempting.”

“Just tempting? Damn! I need to do some work on my powers of persuasion.”

I laughed, before kissing her hard until we were both breathless.

“You don’t, I’m persuaded, I was just playing with you.”

“If you take me back to bed then you can play with me even more.”

“I prefer it when we play with each other.”

“Then, what’s stopping you?”

I slid my hands under her buttocks, lifted her clean off the counter, and then carried her out of the en-suite and over to the bed. Dropping her gently onto the mattress, I climbed up next to her and pulled her back into my arms.

“Absolutely nothing at all…”

We lay in each other’s arms; our hearts slowing, sweat cooling on our skin.

“You know what you said earlier?”

“I said a lot of things.”

“About casting some of my guises aside.”

She nodded.

“How would you feel about trading in two of your guises for two new ones?”

“Hmmm, that depends on what the new ones would be.”

“Mrs Lynley and Lady Asherton.”

“They have a nice ring to them.”

“A nice ring can be arranged as part of the package; if it is a deal breaker.”

She rolled onto her stomach and rested her chin on my chest, looking up at me through her lashes.

“A ring would be nice, but not essential. It wouldn’t be a deal breaker.”

“Then, will you?”

“Will I what?”

“Will you marry me?”

Her smile lit up the room, “yes, I will.”

“I couldn’t do any of this without you Barbara.”

“Then it’s lucky you don’t have to. You and me Tommy Lynley, we’re in this together. It’s the way it’s always been, and it’s the way it always will be.”

“For the long haul?”

She kissed her way down my body, a wicked expression on her face.

“For the long haul. Now shut up and let me take care of you.”

I rolled us, trapping her beneath me. “No. I think we should take care of each other.”

For once in her life, she didn’t argue.


End file.
